1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a lens panel, a method of manufacturing a lens panel, and a display apparatus having a lens panel. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a lens panel for displaying a two-dimensional (“2D”) image and a three-dimensional (“3D”) image, a method of manufacturing the lens panel, and a display apparatus having the lens panel.
2. Discussion of the Background
As the demands for displaying a three dimensional (“3D”) image have been increasing in the video game and movie industries, a stereoscopic image display apparatus has been developed to display the 3D image. The stereoscopic image display apparatus may provide two different two-dimensional (“2D”) images to two eyes of an observer to display the 3D image. The observer views a pair of 2D images through their two eyes, and their brain mixes the 2D images so that the observer may recognize the stereoscopic image.
The stereoscopic image display apparatus may be divided into a stereoscopic type and an auto-stereoscopic type depending on whether a user is required to wear glasses to see the 3D image. In flat panel display apparatuses, the auto-stereoscopic type, such as, a lenticular type, have been generally used.
In the lenticular type apparatus, lights passing through a left pixel and a right pixel are refracted by a lens, which may be a convex lens or a Fresnel lens, to display a 3D image. Recently, a liquid crystal lens functioning in substantially the same manner as a convex lens and a Fresnel lens has been used rather than the convex lens and the Fresnel lens. The liquid crystal lens includes an upper electrode, a lower electrode and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the upper and lower electrodes. Voltages are applied to the upper and lower electrodes so that a thickness and a shape of the convex lens and the Fresnel lens in the liquid crystal lens may be controlled.
In order to implement the Fresnel lens in the liquid crystal lens, voltages are applied to a plurality of electrodes. If the number of the electrodes increases, a thickness of the lens may be decreased. However, as the number of electrodes increase a gap between the electrodes may decrease resulting in an increase in the resistance of the electrode, and a possible disconnection of the electrode may occur.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form any part of the prior art.